KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A man twice convicted of drunk driving will serve 13 years in prison for killing a man in a 2022 drunk driving accident in Kansas City, Missouri.
A Jackson County, Missouri judge sentenced Zackary Zorich, 31, to prison after his guilty plea in a June 8, 2022 crash that killed a man at West 75th Street and Ward Parkway.
The incident occurred around 12:40 p.m. when Zorich, speeding west on West 75th Street in a 2014 Jeep Cherokee, ran a red light on Ward Parkway, according to a court document.
Zorich’s vehicle collided with the driver’s door and side of a 2016 Mercedes Benz CLA250 traveling south on Ward Parkway,
The driver of the Mercedes Benz, Remington R. Williams, died at the crash site, according to a court document.
A DUI officer from the KCMO Police Department came to the scene of the crash to check Zorich for signs of impairment.
The court document said the officer “detected a strong odor of intoxicants on Zorich.” Also, his eyes were watery and bloodshot and his speech was heavily slurred and mumbled.
A tornado warning, combined with a heavy downpour, led officers to take Zorich to the subway patrol station for further testing, the court document said.
After asking to speak to a lawyer and refusing to submit to a blood test, officers obtained a search warrant, took Zorich to a hospital, and withdrew four vials of blood from the gray top.
Zorich’s blood alcohol level was later revealed to be 2.5 times the legal limit, according to a press release from the Jackson County Attorney’s Office.
The court document states that Zorich was convicted of DWI in April 2010 in Platte County Circuit Court and September 2017 in Clay County Circuit Court.
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